The Way it Hurts Blog Tour: Author Guest Post & Giveaway

Welcome to The Way it Hurts Blog tour. Thanks to Sourcebooks, Barclay Publicity & Patty Blount for including us on this tour and for talking about some really important topics. There’s TONS of content as part of this tour stop. We have a guest post from Patty, an excerpt from The Way it Hurts and a giveaway!

In Patty Blount’s THE WAY IT HURTS, two teens’ quest for fame goes terribly wrong when a single tweet goes viral and the online backlash follows them into real life. Fans of Gayle Forman’s If I Stay will like how main characters Elijah and Kristen bond over their music in this edgy, real world contemporary young adult read that examines the impact social media has on the lives of today’s youth.

There may be two sides to every story, but sometimes there’s only one way to set things right…

Music is Elijah’s life. His band plays loud and hard, and he’ll do anything to get them a big break. He needs that success to help take care of his sister, who has special needs. So he’d rather be practicing when his friends drag him to a musical in the next town…until the lead starts to sing.

Kristen dreams of a career on stage like her grandmother’s. She knows she needs an edge to get into a competitive theater program–and being the star in her high school musical isn’t going to cut it. The applause and the attention only encourage her to work harder.

Elijah can’t take his eyes off of Kristen’s performance, and snaps a photo of her in costume that he posts online with a comment that everybody misunderstands. It goes viral. Suddenly, Elijah and Kristen are in a new spotlight as the online backlash spins out of control. And the consequences are bigger than they both could have ever imagined because these threats don’t stay online…they follow them into real life.

The Importance of Writing About Social Issues – Part Two
by Patty Blount

Several years ago, when the U.S. caught Bin Laden, a young adult I know said, “All we have to do now is catch Al.” When we asked who Al is, she said, in all seriousness, “Al Qaeda.” Other adults who’d heard this exchange rolled their eyes and said, “And she’s old enough to vote?”

It may sound like a funny story, but it’s actually not. This was a girl in her early twenties. Social media is full of anecdotes exhibiting cluelessness that rivals this example.

This is why issues-based young adult fiction is so damn important. In a previous post, I shared my opinions about me-centric youth and I firmly believe that encouraging thought that goes beyond the self-starts with generating awareness for issues that teens might not otherwise be exposed to. There are dozens – homelessness, equal rights, gay marriage, abortion, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, rape and rape culture, sexism, racism, self-harm, child marriage, slavery, gun ownership, the right to protest, separation of church and state, freedom of speech, the draft – just to name some.

There’s another thing I strongly believe – that facing an issue for the first time, no matter what issue it is – is more than just scary. It’s lonely. And it’s also epically real – like maybe you could actually die if you mess this up.

Young adult fiction enables teens to experience those issues within safe boundaries, help them see that the world isn’t black and white but a few thousand shades of murky, fuzzy, often indistinguishable gray, to see that it’s possible for someone like them to emerge on the other side of this scary, lonely, epically real experience – changed, certainly — but still intact.

This was my goal for SOME BOYS, a novel about rape and rape culture that I wrote after hearing about the horrible ways in which the Stuebenville rape victim was blamed for her own assault, instead of the boys who did the assaulting. I wanted to write about a character who’d been raped – someone who wasn’t perfect, but who nevertheless did not deserve what happened – what was done to her. I wanted people to close that book so pissed off, they’d change their own behavior. They’d stop calling girls sluts. They’d stop excusing rapists. They’d stop blaming victims.

In my latest novel, THE WAY IT HURTS, a novel about call-out culture and the risks of living your life online, I want readers to experience a loss of privacy – or even the right to have privacy. I want them to feel outrage over invasions of privacy and understand how they’re engaging in exactly those acts when they post vicious comments online.

Tackling tough issues is a life skill for all of us. Young adult fiction provides the practice arena.

Elijah took my hands. “Okay, look. Maybe you’re right. Maybe these people are taking this whole battle thing way too seriously. If you’re scared, then we’ll stop. No more posts except for appearance information.”

“So no more battle of the sexes, no more make Kris scream?”

He held up his hand. “Swear to God.”

“Okay.” I sighed in relief. “You’d really do that?”

He leaned closer and repeated the vow. “I promise, Kris.”

And just like that, I forgot why I was mad at him. I couldn’t talk, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even blink because I was afraid he’d let go. This was the part of him I adored. I clung to him for a long moment, and when his gaze drifted to my mouth, I wondered if—hoped—prayed—he’d finally kiss me.

I could. Yes. Yes, I could just lift my head and lean in and kiss Elijah Hamilton like it was a normal, ordinary occurrence.

Right. Like kissing Elijah Hamilton would ever be ordinary?

I’d watched him kiss that girl at the mall and was sure I’d memorized all the steps in his routine. He’d move in, grip my face between his hands, run his thumb along my jaw, and finally, glide his arm down around my body, pulling me against his own, all the while, peeking through his lashes to see if I enjoyed it.

I wasn’t sure when I decided—even what made me decide. I just touched my lips to his and waited.

It took a second or two. But then there was a sudden, tiny squeak from him, and I felt the pulse in his wrist leap under my fingertips.

And then, his hands were in my hair, angling my head just the way he liked it, his tongue brushing against mine, so soft it might have been my imagination…except imaginary kisses were never so intense. He kissed me like I was a song he wrote, lips wrapped around every word until it hummed with hidden meaning and promise, and his hands held me the way they held his guitar—like the music would stop if he let me go.

Native New Yorker Patty Blount is the award-winning author of several critically acclaimed internet issues novels for teens as well as a few adult contemporary romances. She is inspired to write by such greats as Judy Blume, JK Rowling, and Gayle Forman. In fact, Judy Blume is the reason Patty elected to write under her real name…so she’d appear on shelves next to her idol. Patty adores writing; she’s written everything from technical manuals to song lyrics (see THE WAY IT HURTS, coming August 2017). Patty wants you to know she loves chocolate…really, really loves chocolate.

When not crushing on actors Gilles Marini or Sam Heughan, Patty can be found sitting in traffic somewhere on the Long Island Expressway, listening to audio books or talking wildly to herself about plots and characters. Prone to falling madly in love with fictional characters, Patty suffers frequent broken hearts when they all invariably prefer the heroine to her… go figure. When she’s not writing, Patty loves to watch bad sci-fi movies and live tweet the hilarity, and scour Pinterest for ideas on awesome bookcases. Patty lives on Long Island with her family in a house that, sadly, lacks bookcases.

Giveaway Time!!!

Patty Blount is offering one (1) lucky winner a $50 Amazon Gift Card! This giveaway is not hosted by PTB, it’s part of the blog tour. Please follow all rules, terms, and conditions listed on the Rafflecopter widget. To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below